More ideas

• Spinning newspaper yarn from packing paper and knitting (crocheting?) a bowl for knitting utensils or something similar
• Knitting a pair of fingerless gloves in plain ribbing and decorate the edges with leftover Astrakan or Uno

Mock Cable ... or too many ideas

A few days ago I googled for "mock cable". Here's the first video I found. I really liked the pattern it produced, so I started to knit some fingerless gloves - using a band of two mock cables as the top, then picking up stitches at the side to make the actual glove. It  turned out a bit to tight, so I frogged it.

However, I think that this stitch produces a lovely pattern. So I started another pair but only with mock cable ribbing. I quite like it, and I definitely will pursue the "cable band at the top" idea later.

As to the name of the stitch ("mock cable"), I'm not sure whether it is really correct - since the stitches are really twisted, I guess it's more of a mini cable than a mock one.


Some more googling produced this video where this is done differently.  I will try that also ... sometime.

Chains

By chance I found this video where a cable chain ("trenza cadena") is explained. Even though it's in spanish it's easy to follow.

I changed it slightly (basically throwing in a few purl stitches) to knit another pair of fingerless gloves.

Kitchener Stitch

I have tried to do a kitchener stitch several times ... with or without success. I usually manage to get it wrong.

Anyway, for further reference, here's how to do a kitchener stitch:

• setup: front purl, back knit.
• front needle: knit-slip and purl-leave
• back needle: purl-slip and knit-leave 

Here's a picture of my last urchin hat ... here I got it wrong (which is NOT the fault of the pattern, but my own). I still like the hat :-)

Further info on grafting can be found here. Especially, grafting garter stitch is explained like this:

• setup: Front purl, back purl.
• front needle: knit slip, purl.
• back needle: knit slip, purl.

Margarete Fingerless Gloves

A pair of fingerless gloves with a flower pattern. The effect  is achieved by drawing additional loops through stitches two rows below.

Modifications for a two colour-version are given at the end of this post - as are modifications to make a smaller version (rather ladies size S).






This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Size
Ladies M/L
Lenght: ~19cm
Circumference: ~17cm

Materials
120 metres of DK weight yarn
3.5mm dpns (or circular needles – for magic loop method)
tapestry needle
(crochet hook)

Gauge
7 stitches and 9 rows in 1 inch
(in Stockinette stitch)

Abbreviations
mk1p: make 1 purl stitch, i.e. insert needle from the back in the bar between the two stitches and purl through the front
mk1r: make a knit stitch leaning to the right, i.e. Insert needle from the back in the bar between two stitches and knit the stitch through the front
mk1l: make a knit stitch leaning to the left, i.e. Insert needle from the front in the bar between two stitches and knit the stitch through the back of the loop
pm: place marker
slm: slip marker

Flower Pattern Stitch
One flower is knit as follows: k1, insert needle in stitch 2 rows below and 2 stitches in front & draw a loop of yarn placing it on the right needle (Loop 1), k2,  insert needle in stitch 2 rows below and draw a loop of yarn placing it on the right needle (Loop 2), k2, insert needle in stitch 2 rows below and 2 stitches back and draw a loop of yarn, placing it on the right needle (Loop 3)
For the loop stitches, please note the following
→ do not slip the stitch from needle that you have just stitched into
→ make sure to draw all additional loops through the same stitch 2 rows below
→ you have additional loops on your needle, this will we rectified in the next row
→ a crochet hook might be useful for pulling up the loops
In the next row you will have to knit the k stitch in front and the loop together (Kltog) making sure that the loop is in front of the stitch as you knit it, i.e. for one flower: Kltog, k1, Kltog, k1, Kltog

Pattern Chart
The pattern is composed of flowers repeated every 10th row with an offset of 5 rows and one purl stitch between the flower columns.

Instructions

CO48
join in round
work five rounds of ribbing: p1 k2
Set-up Row: p1 k5 (repeat a total of 8 times)
Row 1: p1 k5 (repeat a total of  8 times)
Row 2 = Row 1
Row 3 = Row 1
Row 4: p1 k1 Loop 1 k2 Loop 2 k2 Loop 3 p1 k5 (repeat a total of 4 times)
Row 5: p1 Kltog k1 Kltog k1 Kltog p1 k5 (repeat a total of 4 times)
Row 6 = Row 1
Row 7 = Row 1
Row 8 = Row 1
Row 9: p1 k5 p1 k1 Loop 1 k2 Loop 2 k2 Loop 3 (repeat a total of 4 times)
Row 10: p1 k5 p1 Kltog k1 Kltog k1 Kltog (repeat a total of 4 times)

Repeat 3 times, but to start the thumb gusset change row 10 of the 3rd repeat as follows:

• For the right hand mitt: Row 10 (3rd repeat):  p1 k5 p1 Kltog k1 Kltog k1 Kltog (repeat twice) pm p1 pm k5 p1 Kltog k1 Kltog k1 ksltog  p1 k5 p1 Kltog k1 Kltog k1 Kltog
• For the left hand mitt: Row 10 (3rd repeat): p1 k5 p1 Kltog k1 Kltog k1 Kltog (repeat twice)  p1 k5 pm p1 pm Kltog k1 Kltog k1 Kltog p1 k5 p1 Kltog k1 Kltog k1 Kltog

By starting the thumb gussets at different places the pattern on the two mitts will by symmetrical.

Thumb Gusset:
Knit according to pattern until you reach the first stitch marker, then do the following instead of the purl stitch between the markers.
Thumb Row 1: slm mk1p k1 mk1p slm
Thumb Row 2: slm p1 k1 p1 slm
Thumb Row 3: slm p1 mk1r k1 mk1l p1 slm
Thumb Row 4: slm p1 k3 p1 slm
Thumb Row 5: slm p1 mk1r k3 mk1l p1 slm
Thumb Row 6: slm p1 k5 p1 slm
Thumb Row 7: slm p1 mk1r k5 mk1l p1 slm
Thumb Row 8: slm p1 k7 p1 slm
Thumb Row 9: slm p1 mk1r k7 mk1l p1 slm
Thumb Row 10: slm p1 k9 p1 slm
Thumb Row 11: slm p1 mk1r k9 mk1l p1 slm
Thumb Row 12: slm p1 k11 p1 slm
Thumb Row 13:  slm p1, move 11 sts to stitch holder, p1 slm
Thumb Row 14:  remove marker, p2tog, remove marker
        → once again there are 48 sts on your needles

Continue pattern until rows 1 – 10 have been repeated a total of 5 times

Finishing rows:
Work row 1 of pattern three times
Work 4 rows of ribbing: p1 k2
Bind off in 5th ribbing row

Thumb:
Move 11 stitches from stitch holder on two dpns.
Pick up 5 sts from above thumb gusset (→ 16 sts)
Rows 1 – 4: knit
Rows 5 – 7: k3 p1 (repeat)
Bind off in k3 p1 ribbing in row 8



Modifications if you want to make a two colour version:

• in the loop row knit the loop stitches with the contrast colour
• in the next row, use the main colour to knit the stitches & loops together

The photo on the right shows the WS to give you an idea how the yarn is stranded.

The two-colour version in the pictures is also smaller, i.e.it is rather a size S.

• CO 42 instead of 48
• ribbing: p1 k2 p1 k2 p1 (repeat) - and knit the whole pattern as a repeat of 14 (instead of 12 in the wider version), alternating the purl channels in width (one with 2 sts in width, and one with 1 st in width).

 

Cable Experiment Mitts

I wanted to achieve the effect of cables varying in width.






This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

.



Materials:
Fingering weight yarn (ca. 35 gr)
3mm dpns
stitch holder or waste yarn

The finished mitts will measure 20cm in lenght and ca. 16 cm in circumference

Instructions:
CO56
join in round (14 sts on each needle)

knit 8 ribbing rows:
*p1 k6 p3 k2 p2* (repeat)

start pattern
row 1: *p1 k6 p3 k2 p2* (repeat)
row 2 = row 1
row 3: *p1 C6F p3 C2F* (repeat)
row 4 = row 1
row 5 = row 1
row 6: *p2 k4 p3 k4 p1* (repeat)
row 7 = row 6
row 8: *p2 C4F p3 C4F p1* (repeat)
row9 = row 6
row 10 = row 6
row 11: *p3 k2 p3 k6* (repeat)
row 12 = row 11
row 13: p3 C2F p3 C6F* (repeat)
row 14 = row 11
row 15 = row 11
row 16: *p2 k4 p3 k4 p1* (repeat)
row 17 = row 16
row 18: *p2 C4F p3 C4F p1* (repeat)
row 19 = row 16
row 20 = row 17

start again from row 1
start thumb gusset at stitch 8 in row 20 of the 2nd pattern repeat

after row 13 in 3rd repetition: do 7 rows of ribbing, i.e. *p1 k2 p3 k6 p2* (repeat)
bind off in 8th ribbing row

Thumb gusset
start increases around stitch 8 in row 20 of the 2nd pattern repeat and increase by two sts in every other row, i.e.
in row 19 of 2nd repetition: p2 k4 p1 pm p1 pm p1 k4 p (→ set-up)
in row 20 of 2nd repetition: p2 k4 p1 marker m1right k1 m1left marker p1 k4 p1 (→ increases)
in row 1 of 3rd repetition: p1 k6 marker k3 marker p2 k2 p2 (→ no increases)
in row 2 of 3rd repetition: p1 k6 marker m1right k3 m1left marker p2 k2 p2 (→ increases)
in row 3 of 3rd repetition: p1 C6F marker k5 marker p2 C2F (→ no increases)
… until there are 17 sts between the markers
place sts on markers on stitch holder and CO1 (backloop cast-on) above, so that there are again 56 sts on your needles

Thumb
move stitches from stitch holder on two dpns
pick up 7 sts from above thumb gusset (→ 24 sts)
round 1: k
round 2: k2tog k20 ssk (→ 22 sts)
round 3: k
round 4: k2tog k18 ssk (→ 20 sts)
round 5: k
round 6: bind off

Crafting Resolutions for 2012

Knitting/Crocheting resolutions for 2012:

• learn icord BO
• knit something in at least two colours (no stripes)
• do crochet entrelac (FGs)
• “design” at least two patterns
• knit a sweater
• knit a cardigan
• take part in a KAL
• a pair of FGs with beads
• a pair of FGs with half-fingers